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Loyola at a Glance

International piano duo performs virtuoso concert at Loyola

February 27, 2009

Internationally acclaimed British piano duo, the Cann Twins, will perform a dual piano concert featuring the music of Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns on Friday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m., in Roussel Performance Hall, located in the Communications/Music Complex on Loyola’s main campus.

Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for all students and Loyola faculty and staff, and can be purchased online at www.montage.loyno.edu or by calling (504) 865-2074.

The performance will include “Danse Macabre,” Op. 40, by Camille Saint-Saëns; “Introduction and Allegro” by Maurice Ravel; “Polovtsian Dances” by Alexander Borodin/arr. Cann; “Ariadne’s Crown” by Terry Winter Owens; “Variations on a Theme by Paganini” by Witold Lutoslawski; “Concertino for Two Pianos,” Op. 94, by Dmitri Shostakovich; Dances from “The Nutcracker Suite” by Peter Tchaikovsky; and Suite No. 2 for two pianos, Op. 17, by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The Cann Twins will also offer a masterclass on Friday, March 13, at 3:30 p.m., in Roussel Performance Hall. The masterclass is free and open to the public.

The Cann Twins’ illustrious career has taken them all over the world. They have performed concerts with many orchestras abroad, including with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and the BBC Concert Orchestra.

The identical twins, Claire Robertson and Antoinette Leigh, studied with Jean Merlow and Robert Pell before entering the Royal College of Music in London for coaching with the legendary duo-pianist Phyllis Sellick. They graduated with honors in solo and duo-piano performance, the only pianists to have ever done so from that institution.

As a duo, the Cann Twins won Countess of Munster Awards, a Park Lane Group Young Artist South Bank Recital and Summer Scholarships to Banff, Canada, to study with Gilbert Kalish, Anton Kuerti and John Paul Sevilla. As postgraduates they were awarded the RCM’s most prestigious prize, The President’s Rosebowl, and by invitation of the Queen Mother Elizabeth they performed at the Royal Lodge Windsor for Queen Elizabeth II.

They have premiered many works written for them by international composers such as Timothy Blinko, Martin Butler, Jeffrey Reid Baker, Michael Elliott, Terry Winter Owens and Max Stern. They also gave the South Bank premiere of the Max Bruch concerto for two pianos and orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall and the world premiere of Timothy Blinko’s “Gemini” Concerto with the English Sinfonia and Philip Ellis.

The Cann Twins have given duo-piano masterclasses in the U.S. and Europe and have been invited to present masterclasses at the Royal College of Music, London, and the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. They were also invited to serve as visiting professors at Stetson University, Deland, Fla.

Their recordings have won top awards, including Classic FM “Critic’s Choice,” Gramophone “Critic’s Choice,” HMV “Best 49 CDs” and “La Danse” was a rosette winner in the “Penguin Guide to Compact Discs.”

For more information, contact Sean Snyder in Loyola’s Office of Public Affairs at smsnyder@loyno.edu or call 504-861-5882.

Loyola at a Glance is written and distributed for the faculty, staff, students and friends of Loyola University New Orleans. It is published by the Office of Public Affairs, Greenville Hall, Box 909, 7214 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118. (504) 861-5888.

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